


What if I Died?

by Cathartic Pain (arsenicarose)



Series: DreamNotFound HURT Fics [3]
Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Hurt No Comfort, Loss, M/M, Mourning, No canon after that date, SMP Spoilers through 12/6/20, SMP members becoming ghosts, Set in the SMP
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-30
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:13:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28382259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arsenicarose/pseuds/Cathartic%20Pain
Summary: This is a work where I wrote about what might happen to Dream if George died, and vice versa.Chapter 1 is George's death.Chapter 2 is Dream's death.
Relationships: Clay | Dream/GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF)
Series: DreamNotFound HURT Fics [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2051328
Comments: 14
Kudos: 96





	1. George's Death

“Fuck you, Dream!” George spat, running away from the man in the green cloak.

“Woah, George, what the hell? It’s not that serious!” Dream was better at parkour than George, so he was catching up fast.

“No, it _is_ serious, get the fuck away from me!” George spun around, critting Dream with his axe a few times before continuing his escape.

“Okay, ow! What did I do?”

“You’ve been talking shit about me all over the server!”

“I’ve been protecting you! People need to think that we aren’t that close! There is a war coming, George, I can feel it. You don’t want to be on my side.”

George stopped running at the top of a hill, staring down at Dream. “It’s too late for that! Even if you tell them you hate me, I’m always going to be on your side in their eyes! All you are doing is making me feel like shit, telling people you don’t care about me, and dressing me down in front of EVERYONE. Why remove me as king like that? Why make it so public? Why make _such_ a big deal of it? If you hadn’t announced it in front of everyone, maybe I wouldn’t have been so mad?”

“George… It’s not like that. You know I care about you. I’d do anything for you. All I want is to keep you safe!”

“The best way to keep me safe is to _leave me alone_.” He pulled out his bow and shot Dream a few times. It wouldn’t really damage him, but it might make a point.

“Is that how you really feel?” Dream asked quietly.

“Yes! I don’t want to deal with you right now.”

“Fine.” And with that, Dream logged off.

~~~

The next day, when he logged in, the server was weird. The second he appeared in game, the Minecraft chat lit up.

 **Dream joined the game  
** **< Tubbo_> Oh fuk he’s here.  
** **< TommyInnit> Oh yes, please, be as weird about it as possible  
** **< TommyInnit> That will make things better.  
** **< KarlJacobs> Dream, maybe don’t be on the server today…  
** **< Sapnap> Yeah, Dream we got this.  
** **< Dream> What are you talking about…  
** **< Sapnap> Actually don’t worry about it. Like, just log off, maybe come back later, maybe don’t.**

Dream was genuinely confused. This wasn’t scripted. There was no reason he shouldn’t be coming on the server. No huge event planned. Was George that mad at him?

**_You whisper to Sapnap: Is George mad still?_ **

Sapnap didn’t reply.

 **_BadBoyHalo whispers to you: I’m so sorry, Dream. D:  
_ ** **_You whisper to BadBoyHalo: Why sorry?_ **

Bad doesn’t reply either.

This was beyond strange. He tabbed to see who else was online, and he saw George’s name. Even when they were fighting, George would always be straight with him.

 **_You whisper to GeorgeNotFound: What’s going on? Where are you?  
_ ** **_GeorgeNotFound whispers to you: I’m not sure… I’m… I’m confused.  
_ ** **_You whisper to GeorgeNotFound: WHERE ARE YOU? WHAT’S GOING ON?  
_ ** **_GeorgeNotFound whispers to you: I don’t know.  
_ ** **GeorgeNotFound left the game.**

Dream stormed into L’Manberg, fully decked out. His axe was in one hand and a strength potion was in the other. Tommy, Tubbo, and Karl were standing around, chatting, he assumed. He joined their voice chat, ignoring their conversation, and stormed over to them. “What is going on?!”

“Oh fuck, it’s Dream!” Tommy yelled, jumping up, “I’m so sorry, Dream. There was literally no plotting happening here. I know I am in exile, so please excuse me, I just really needed to speak to my good friends, Tubbo and Karl, but I tricked them, you see, and they had nothing to do with this.”

“I don’t give a fuck about your exile right now, Tommy! Why the fuck is everyone telling me to get off the server?”

“Oh, that…” Suddenly, Tommy had nothing to say.

“Karl? Tubbo?”

They all looked at each other in game for a moment, and then…

 **TommyInnit left the game  
** **Tubbo_ left the game**

“Sorry, Dream. Maybe ask Sapnap?” Karl said.

**KarlJacobs left the game.**

With each of them leaving the game, the robotic voice said “Buddy has left your channel.”

**_You whisper to Sapnap: Tell me what happened NOW._ **

Dream ran around the server, trying to find anyone, or trying to figure out what was going on. Sapnap was stubbornly not replying, and Dream was feeling a bit anxious. What could be so serious that no one would talk to him?

Finally, after a good ten minutes, a message appeared.

 **_Sapnap whispers to you: Do I really have to be the one to tell you?  
_ ** **_You whisper to Sapnap: Apparently, since three people just left the server rather than say anything.  
_ ** **_Sapnap whispers to you: Cowards… Alright, meet me at George’s vacation house, the one that you exiled Tommy for._ **

Dream ran there at full speed. It wasn’t too far from where he had been, but he was just so eager for answers. As he approached it, the house looked fine. Just as nice as when George had made it. Sapnap wasn’t there yet, but he ran right up to it.

It stopped him dead in his tracks. There was a sign in front of the door, birch.

“GeorgeNotFound  
Rest in Peace”

“What?” Dream asked out loud, “How is this even possible?”

He went to the chat to ask Sapnap what happened, but the last thing in the chat box was.

**Sapnap has left the game.**

The whole server was empty, in fact. Everyone had left in anticipation of his discovery, and so he was alone, in front of George’s grave.

He sank to his knees, tears streaming down his face. “George… _George_ …” He whispered, “What happened?”

**GeorgeNotFound joined the game.**

George popped up right next to Dream, standing on his grave. His skin was changed to the sickly pallor of a ghost, like Wilbur’s had been. His clout goggles stood out in stark contrast to his greying skin.

“Hello,” George said, softly.

“Hello there. What are you doing here?”

“I’m just checking on this house. It’s so pretty.”

“It’s your house, George.”

“Really?! It is?! Thank you!”

Dream sighed. “Do you remember who I am?”

“You are... safety.”

“No, George, I don’t think I am.”

~~~

Dream didn't like being on the SMP anymore. It was far too real for him. George was online regularly, but he was… different. Always soft and fragile. Not in a pathetic way, but in a way that indicated how he had died.

They had to kill him twice, two cannon deaths, to make it stick, but they wanted to be sure it would count, so they did it over and over again. Lava, drowning, axes, swords, fire, falling. You name it, they did it. 

Dream didn't know who, or he would have killed them or banned them.

Regardless, George's death had been traumatic, and he remembered little. He set up residence in the vacation home that Dream had named as his. George filled the meadow around it with flowers and bees and cleaned up the design, so the inside was no longer stone.

One day, he gave Dream all his weapons and demanded he get rid of them. One of the "weapons" was a bucket of lava. Dream's heart broke and he couldn't burn them. He kept them hidden in his ender chest, as a reminder.

He spent most of his time on the server with Ghost George, forsaking his other story duties completely. The server let him. Killing George had been a lapse in judgement, a desperate bid to take over the SMP, to keep it out of Dream's manipulative grasp. 

It had worked.

They didn’t actually take over the server though. The major plot lines and betrayals kind of died off, replaced by smaller pieces that centered around relationships between members. It was something different, definitely, but the big story felt wrong now.

~~~

George liked to walk around the forest near his house. He didn’t try to claim any other lands as his own, even the ones that had been his before, as if they were lost to him. Dream would trail behind him as he flit around, taking in the beauty around him.

“Dream, look! Llamas!” George loved to point these things out to his constant companion.

“You remember llamas?”

“Of course I do!” George giggled, “They spit when they are mad!” 

“That’s right, George, they do.” Dream tried to be as happy as George was, but it never quite reached him.

George turned his pale face to Dream’s, pausing for a moment before adding, “Lava spits when it's mad too…” He turned away again, wandering off while continuing, “Lava is always mad.”

~~~

When Ghost George wasn’t with Dream, he would usually find his way to Ghostbur. They had a special understanding between the two of them, and when they got into deep conversation, no one could follow what they were going on about.

If Dream came onto the server with George already online, he would make the long journey to find him, and he would usually be having one of his cryptic chats with his ghost friend. They were well matched, both pale and desiccated looking, and Dream never interrupted. He would just be there in case George wanted to change companions.

Ghostbur would always give George more blue every time he visited. “You’ll need a lot of it to take the sadness away,” he said once.

George agreed.

~~~

The worst part about his death was honestly how compliant he was. What Dream wouldn’t give for another fight, a hefty fuck you, or an axe crit to the face. Whatever Dream said, George would do. For some reason, as a ghost, George trusted him completely, even when it could cause him damage or a minor death. No matter what Dream did, George would just nod and go along with it.

Dream learned very quickly not to ask things of him.

He just kind of followed George, letting him enjoy the landscape and his second life. It was better that way, and he made sure to actually keep him safe this time. From blocking off lava pits, to killing mobs, to building stairs into anything tall, George hardly took any damage.

Dream’s armor was losing its durability.

Sometimes, Dream would get frustrated by something, and for a moment, he would turn to George like everything was normal and start to tease him or scold him or something else not peaceful, but then he would see George’s grey face, watch his head pitch down, and hear the sounds George would make.

There was no fight left in him. There was nothing but a kicked puppy, desperate for safety. Dream had wanted George under his control more, to follow his orders and do what he said for the SMP, but he didn’t want this. 

Somedays, he wished George would kill him, just so he could know George was still in there, but he never even tried.

So life (and death) went on, and Dream learned to live with it. The server learned to live with it. George learned the names of the flowers.


	2. Dream's Death

“George, I’m serious, you won’t want to be around for this,” Tommy was saying, pushing him back.

“What are you doing to him?! Get off me, Tommy!” George shrieked.

“George, it’s for the good of the server, honestly, just let it happen,” Sapnap said, appearing out of nowhere to help corral him.

“What are you talking about, Sapnap?! For the good of the server? This is _Dream_ , he is the server!”

“Yeah, but he’s been taking over, a bit, hasn’t he?” Tommy rationalized.

“It’s literally his server? He’s allowed to do whatever he wants?”

“Careful, George.” Sapnap’s eyes narrowed. “Wouldn’t want you to be next.”

George considered arguing more, but then Dream was brought out. He was being led by Eret and Philza to a raised platform that had been erected earlier that day. There was no armor and nothing in his hands. He didn’t even try to fight it.

Technoblade stood at the top of the platform.

George quickly weaved through the crowd at the distraction of the prisoner being brought out. Tommy and Sapnap called after him, but he ignored them desperate to get to the stage.

“DREAM!!” he called, clawing his way through the wall of people, “Dream, PLEASE!! You can escape!”

At first, Dream ignored him, but as George got closer, panic spread into Dream’s eyes. “George, you have to get out of here. I don’t want you to see this.”

“Dream, please, you don’t need to take this! Just escape!”

“It’s too late for that, George,” Dream sighed. “Don’t try to save me. I’ll be okay.”

“DREAM!!” But he was being pulled back now, arms looped around him, dragging him away.

“Can you take him out of here, Sapnap? I don’t want him to see…”

“I don’t take orders from you anymore,” Sapnap replied, coldly.

George watched in horror as Dream made his final ascent to the top of the platform. Technoblade twirled his netherite axe a few times, testing the swing. At least it would be quick.

As a last moment effort, a desperate shot in the dark, George screamed, “Wait, Dream, please!! I… I love you!”

A single tear dripped down Dream’s cheek. “I love you too, George.” But it didn’t stop him for a moment, and he shifted in front of Technoblade, head down.

“You’re a good man, Dream. I’m sorry it had to come to this,” Techno whispered, raising his axe.

It all happened in slow motion for George. The huge, sharp axe raised above Techno’s head and crashed down into Dream. It took two hits, and the first one looked painful, but Dream didn’t make a sound, until finally he collapsed to the ground. 

They had spawn trapped him, so George was forced to watch as the chat showed Dream’s death over and over. He tried to run to spawn, but they stopped him again, surrounding him in a ring of swords, shields, and axes.

“This is for the best,” Tubbo whispered.

“I’m sorry, George. I know how much you care about him, and I love him too, but it has to be done,” Sapnap added.

Finally, at the end of the series of Dream’s death announcement, there was a final message.

 **Dream has left the game**.

The death messages faded one by one as George watched. Silence took over the server, but Dream didn’t log back in.

George waited for hours.

~~~

Dream didn’t log back in for a long time. Weeks or maybe even months. The server started to die without him, but it never went down. He didn’t seem bitter about it, it was all according to plan, but he just didn’t log on again.

George stopped going on the server much either. It just wasn’t as fun without Dream there, so he didn’t log on really, not until the day Dream finally popped back in.

George had a million mentions on twitter. All of them were almost exactly the same.

_@GeorgeNotFound Dream is online!! Dream is on the server!!_

George logged in immediately, checking the list of players the second he got in, and there it was. Dream was actually online The spawn trap had long since been removed, so he hadn’t died, and he could move freely about the server, though as a ghost, George supposed.

George ran to spawn as fast as he could, ignoring everyone and everything in his path.

**_You whisper to Dream: DREAM!!! You’re back! I need to see you. Are you okay?_ **

When George got to the spawn, there was no one, and no sign that anyone had been there. 

**_You whisper to Dream: Hello? Please, answer me… Please?_ **

He wandered the server, going to all of Dream’s secret spots, but found nothing. The server was so huge, almost literally unlimited, and if Dream wasn’t in a known places, he could be anywhere. George found himself getting frantic, checking the list of online players every couple steps, just confirming that Dream really hadn’t left.

**_You whisper to Dream: What’s going on, actually?_ **

Dream said nothing.

Finally, George got fed up. He may not have been going on the server much, but he did still have operator abilities. They had all promised not to use operator commands, unless it was an emergency, but this was an emergency, at least for George. He teleported himself to Dream.

Dream was running as fast as he could, hopping across the wide, open sands of a desert. The x value was in the 40,000 range, which meant he had been running for a long time. George suddenly realized that Dream must have been online before that, just running when no one was online, and logging out before anyone could really see.

George started running after him, and he had no trouble keeping up, which was odd. Dream was a good runner, faster than George, and he should have been able to pull away, but they stayed neck and neck. This meant that George couldn’t send a message though. The x value flipped to 41,000 and kept climbing.

He skidded to a halt, frustrated, and started typing furiously.

**_You whisper to Dream: What on earth are you doing? Why are you doing this? Talk to me!!!_ **

Dream just kept running. He didn’t even stop to eat, though his hunger must have surely been getting low. George was far behind now, and the distance grew with every minute he spent staring confused at his friend’s back as he sprinted into the slowly setting sun.

Finally, George realized how pointless this was and put himself in gamemode, forgetting about the rules in his need to understand. He flew ahead of Dream and dropped right in front of him.

Dream didn’t pause, and ran right into him, pushing him out of the way until he could keep going.

**_You whisper to Dream: WHAT IS GOING ON!!!_ **

For a long time, nothing happened. George couldn’t help but follow, hopelessly trailing Dream through the night and the next day, just waiting for something, _anything_ to happen.

Eventually, Dream did stop, eating through several rotten flesh and looking queasy. It was then that he finally looked at George, meeting his gaze for only a moment.

 **_Dream whispers to you: I’m sorry.  
_ ** **Dream has left the game**

George stood in silence and horror as Dream popped out of the game. He couldn’t move, and, for a long time, he felt he couldn’t blink, lest he miss Dream popping back online to start running again.

Nothing happened

George coded a special plugin, spending hours pouring over code, so that when Dream respawned, he would land on a pressure plate, which would send an alert to George’s phone. It was only after it was done (and tested by George) that he could allow himself to rest.

He waited for days, phone clutched in a desperate hand while he slept, and every waking moment spent with the one screen open to minecraft, staring at the last place he saw Dream and waiting for him to come back on.

It went on like this for several weeks, and George had to relax a little. He left the plugin running, but he stopped leaving the server open while he waited. Eventually, he stopped logging in entirely, besides checking to make sure the plugin still worked. No matter what he was doing, the hope lingered, scratching at him, a constant irritant.

But Dream never logged back on.


End file.
